Canadian officials announced plans last week to buy land in the United States for the New International Trade Crossing Bridge and customs plaza that will link Detroit and Windsor. They will do so without a guarantee from the United States that the U.S. will pay more than $200 million for a customs plaza. According to outgoing consul general Roy Norton, the project is too important to not move ahead despite doubts about U.S. participation.

The following video shows the 116-meter AFE Twoer in Frankfurt, Germany collapsing in just under 10 scond during a controlled explosion. Over 950 kilograms of explosives were needed to bring down the 32-story, 50,000 ton skyscraper.

The Melbourne Minister of Planning recently approved a 73-story, 230-meter skyscraper that will be just 12 meters wide at its narrowest point when finished. It will primarily be a residential building with 256 apartment units, but the tower will also feature a seven-story lobby that will attract local people to the landmark building.

The infrastructure and gridlock problems facing the city of Jakarta, Indonesia are expected to worsen this year. The Indonesian government expects 1.2 million new cars will be purchased in the country in 2014. This fact, coupled with the Indonesian central government’s unwillingness to invest in new infrastructure projects, could result in “total gridlock” according to the executive director of the Indonesia Effort for Environment.

The 2014 Winter Olympics will begin on February 7th in Sochi, Russia. The resort town of Sochi is located over 1,600 kilometers from Moscow along the Black Sea. Sochi had very little infrastructure when the city’s bid to host the Olympics beat out Salzburg, Austria and Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2007. In the seven years since Sochi won its Olympics bid, workers have erected 25,000 new hotel rooms, built 225 miles of road, drilled 22 new tunnels in the surrounding mountains, built four new stadiums and more. These Olympics will be the most expensive in history with current cost estimates exceeding $50 billion. In addition to the original $10 billion investment by the Russian government, the original financing plan called for non-budget sources to contribute $2.6 billion to tourist infrastructure, $500 million for Olympic venues, $270 million for transportation infrastructure, and $100 million for power infrastructure. The actual cost to complete each of these items is much higher than the original estimates and many are claiming corruption plays a large role in the increased spending.

The Blackfriars Railway Bridge in London, England is now the largest-solar powered bridge in the world. Network Rail, the company in charge of London’s rail system, unveiled the bridge at a ribbon cutting ceremony last Wednesday. The roof of the new bridge is covered with 4,400 photovoltaic panels. The panels will supply half of the energy needed to run London Blackfriars station, and they will help to reduce the station’s carbon emissions by 511 tons per year. By comparison the world’s only other solar bridge, the Kurilpa Bridge in Brisbane, Australia, will save 38 tons of carbon emissions each year.